For anyone who has been involved in the Tufts Water Watch education program this year, the title of this viewpoint needs no explanation; for everyone else, you can get involved in the education program if you really want to know.
My tenure as the Water Watch Organizer for Tufts University is about to come to a close. It is an unfortunate but necessary reality that because the position is funded by AmeriCorps, it is really only possible to stick around for one year. Thankfully though, I have all the faith in the world that the program will continue to be successful here at Tufts when I'm not around.
Why do I have that faith? It's because over the last year, and in particular last weekend, I have been truly impressed and inspired by the Tufts community. Throughout the year I have been amazed at the successes for which student interns and other members of Water Watch have been responsible. More recently, however, I've had the privilege of experiencing the generosity and support of the Tufts community as a whole.
The success of April 23rd's Mystic River Super Cleanup was beyond our wildest dreams. Last year was the biggest cleanup ever, and about 150 people took part. This year there were at least that many people just from the Tufts student body, and it was raining! I especially appreciate the help from Panhellenic and IGC, the football team, the volleyball team, and ECO. I hope this can set a precedent for even more people to get involved next year.
A big part of having that many people was the support of the administration. President Bacow supplied two shuttle buses to transport students back and forth from campus to the cleanup site. Provost Bharucha not only helped fund the purchase of tools, but he also came and pulled out a significant amount of trash. Athletic Director Bill Gehling passed information about the cleanup on to the sports teams and was one of many who helped fund a free BBQ from Redbones.
Other contributors to the BBQ were the University College of Citizenship and Public Service, the Provost, Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, the TCU Senate, Tufts Institute of the Environment and Community Relations. Without the help of all of these offices, I doubt that the cleanup could have been such a big success. But the biggest thank you clearly goes to Deirdre Tomlinson, the Tufts student and Water Watch intern who coordinated this humungous effort and has demanded no credit in return.
When I first came to this campus in August, I had the chance to meet with Dean Reitman and ask him about the students at Tufts. He took the opportunity to rave about how civic-minded and service-oriented this campus is. At the time I was pretty impressed, but also a bit skeptical. After all, isn't a Dean's job to promote his school? But my expectations have been more than exceeded by the students I've worked with through Water Watch; not only our active members, but folks from other groups like ECO, ASCE, PHAT, EPIIC, and many others.
My biggest thanks, however, need to be directed to just a couple of people. First and foremost are the interns for Water Watch who have made all of our programs a success - from cleanups to forums, stream monitoring to education. Students organized and taught over 35 presentations this year, worked in an after-school program, and overall educated more than 1,500 local elementary school students about water pollution, while at the same time reinforcing important MCAS requirements like the water cycle and ecosystems.
They put in close to 100 hours of time on and in the rivers, doing shoreline surveys, invasive species eradication and flow testing. They also organized a huge forum that not only taught a good number of Tufts students about the Superfund sites in Woburn, but also gave many from the community an opportunity to address this unsolved issue. And, with the help of students from other Water Watch chapters across Massachusetts, they helped compile a comprehensive report on perchlorates and convince the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to set the lowest standard in the country for the safe allowable level in drinking water.
I'd also like to thank Lisa Brukilacchio of the University College of Citizenship and Public Service. Tufts is truly unique in its commitment to active citizenship and town-gown relations, as the presence of University College clearly indicates, and Water Watch could not have been as successful this year without Lisa's help.
Congratulations to everyone who joined in the movement to clean up the Mystic River watershed, and who helped to engage others in cleaning up the second dirtiest waterways in the country. I hope you stick with it next year and in years to come, and no matter what the issue, whether it be water quality or something entirely different, I hope you all recognize what a difference you can make, if you are willing to work together.
Zack Harlow-Nash is the Water Watch organizer for Tufts University.
